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Tuesday, 11 November 2014

POLICE INTIMIDATION CONTINUES

Swaziland Police are once again harassing progressives
in the kingdom. The latest victim is Sifiso Mabuza, Deputy
Secretary of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) Siteki top
branch.

About 30 armed police raided his home claiming
they were looking for explosives. They found none.

Mabuza told local media the police questioned
him about his union activities and threatened him.

Swaziland has a history of attacking workers’ rights. It has
banned the workers’ federation, the Trades Union Congress of Swaziland
(TUCOSWA), broken up its meeting and harassed and arrested
its leaders.

In September 2013, Swazi state
police arrested all members of an international panel of experts who were due
to meet to debate the role of trade unions in Swaziland. The meeting due to
take place in Manzini was to be chaired by Jay Naidoo, founding General
Secretary of COSATU and former Minister of Communications for South Africa.

In May 2013, in its annual
report on Swaziland, Amnesty
International reported, rights to freedom of expression, association and
peaceful assembly continued to be violated in the kingdom. There were also
‘arbitrary arrests and excessive force used to crush political protests,’ the
report stated, and ‘torture and other ill-treatment remained a persistent
concern’ in Swaziland.

Amnesty noted that in May 2012
the African Commission on Human Rights adopted a resolution ‘expressing alarm’
at the Swazi Government’s failure to implement previous decisions and
recommendations of the Commission relating to the rights of freedom of
expression, association, and assembly.

These violations included the
use by police of, ‘rubber bullets, tear gas and batons to break up
demonstrations and gatherings viewed as illegal’.

OSISA told the African Commission on Human
and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) meeting in The Gambia, ‘There are also reliable
reports of a general militarization of the country through the deployment of
the Swazi army, police and correctional services to clamp down on any peaceful
protest action by labour or civil society organisations ahead of the country’s
undemocratic elections.’

In April
2013, the Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF) and the Swaziland Democracy
Campaign (SDC), two organiastions campaigning for democracy in the kingdom, in
a joint statement said police in Swaziland were now a ‘private militia’ with
the sole purpose of serving the Royal regime. This was after about 80 armed
officers broke
up a public meeting to discuss the lack of democracy in the kingdom.